The officer said police have an agreement with traders to share photos of known offenders, which gives the traders a much better idea of who they are.

Larger chains might have corporate policy issues in blocking entry to known offenders, but the smaller independents were less inhibited.

“They are certainly keeping an eye on them when they are in the shop,” he said.

At the meeting, PCSO Evans revealed the Neighbourhood Police Team Incident statistics for Market Rasen.

In March, police dealt with 120 incidents in ‘Rasen Town’ and 154 in the ‘Market Rasen Neighbourhood Policing Team Area.’

This compares with 113 and 170 respectively in February 2015.

Theft was responsible for 14 incidents in Rasen and in its wider area in March, compared with 13 and 19 theft incidents in February.

There were also 23 and 35 suspicious incidents in March and 19 and 33 such incidents in February.

Market Rasen town also experienced 11 incidents of domestic abuse in March, and 14 such incidents in February. The wider neighbourhood area experienced 13 and 15 such incidents respectively, police figures also revealed.